Location Research: Costa Coffee

Myself, and the others decided that Costa Coffee in Leatherhead would be the perfect place to film part of out opening scene.

Ellie (portrayed by Mae Fisher) is shown waiting for Tara (portrayed by Nadiye Killick) as they were meant to meet up.

Its a popular place with ordinary people around making it realistic as it wasn't isolated or empty. In Thriller films there is always a busy location shown where the main characters meet and talk about their plan or the antagonist in the film. It shows originality and positions the audience to relate to the location. We bought drinks while we were there to use as props to make it look more realistic. It also showed a sense of timing and that i was waiting for someone.

In this picture you can see that I have the drink to show the audience where I am and what I am doing. We chose costa as we thought it looked like a place where teenagers would meet up for a Coffee and catch up. A restaurant would look to grown up and fake and anywhere else wouldn't have looked as effective.

I am shown here on the phone as it's a key part to the opening scene. Its when Ellie realises she has been stood up by Tara. By holding the drink it looks like i have been drinking it and am almost finished. This would imply I was ready to leave.

We also bought drinks as we thought that by using the location to film we should buy something from the shop. It also helps show the audience that I am still in the Coffee shop waiting for someone.

Location Research: The Splash

 In our opening scene we film in three different locations. We filmed at The Splash in Leatherhead, Costa Coffee in Leatherhead and a bench in Leatherhead.

We used The Splash located in Leatherhead to film our opening scene as it's quiet, mysterious, remote and gloomy. It seemed the ultimate and perfect place to film as Tara was walking her dog in what looks like a normal ordinary woods with fields and exciting walks for the dog. 

Myself and the others thought the splash would be an ideal place to film as in the picture you can see it looks dark interesting and quite scary at the same time. The trees create tension and sinister shapes in the distance. The fencing shows the pathway going on for a long time also implying you are locked in the area and there is no way out.  The darkness created by the trees helps the effect of the lighting appear darker showing the audience how something unusual is likely to happen. The use of the large tree's helped us take advantage of them to use it as a place for our antagonist to hide and spy on the protagonist.  We started filming at around 13:20pm and finished at around 3:30pm. As it's winter we wanted to make sure we had good lighting and it wasn't darker than it should. If we left it any later being in an enclosed space it would have made our scenes very under exposed and not effective.

The Splash had many different hills and ditches which we were able to take advantage of to get effective shots. In this picture --->

you can see Myself standing on a steep hill recording a canted angle of Nadiye walking across the bridge. This angle is effective as it portrays unease and madness. The trees in the background also create shadows making frantic action. The woodland effect was really natural in showing where Nadiye was and the activity she was taking part in as it didn't look fake. 

In this picture you can see that we are filming in a enclosed area which looks isolated and uninterrupted. This is because The Splash has a really long trail which means there were near to nobody around which meant we were able to film effectively without catching anyone in the background making it unrealistic. In the background you can see sharp looking trees which connotes murder and stabbing. This helps    promote our film as we were filming the murder scene at this location. 

The picture also looks quite dark implying it was quiet gloomy and frightening, which was perfect for that particular dark and twisted shot. The location however comes across as quiet exciting supporting the thriller theme/genre.

Mood Board!

My mood board shows all the key things in our opening scene. 

The Watch

I put the prop of the watch on the mood board as it's used throughout out opening scene to position the audience to understand time is ticking and that one of are characters is checking the time quite frequently. 

The Phone

The second prop is the iPhone. I put that in the mood board as its used a lot by the character Ellie to find out where Tara is but also at the end of the opening scene a key event happens which involved the phone. The text message symbol is also included in the mood board because at the end Ellie receives a text which grips the audience into wanting to watch the rest of the film. 

The Woods

One of our locations is the woods. We filmed the main part of the opening scene at the woods (murder scene). It was effective in showing the genre/theme of a thriller. The weather also helped as it was a cold, gloomy and misty day.

Costa Coffee

Another location in our opening, is Costa Coffee. We used this as its an ordinary place where friends would meet up. The location in the scene is where the audience is positioned to realise Tara was on her way to meet Ellie and not get murdered/lost. 

The Plastic Bag

The plastic bag in out opening scene is the main prop as its the murder weapon. It is used to suffocate Tara the protagonist.  It is used effectively and shown through a close up pull the audience in. 

The Balaclava

Another prop used in our opening scene is a balaclava. Rosemary the antagonist wears this to hide her identity when murdering Tara. However as we are the viewers we can tell by her outfit. But anyone else walking down the road wouldn't know who it was and makes it mysterious and creepy. 

Costume analysis:

In our opening scene we dressed our characters in specific outfits to give the appropriate effect but also conform to their character type.


Tara our protagonist (Portrayed by Nadiye Killick) 
For filming we decided to dress Nadiye in walking boots to show the audience she is walking her dog and a hoodie and coat to show the weather is quite gloomy and cold. The colours compared to our antagonist are quite bright and vibrant contrasting the two different characters. The prop for Nadiye is her dog, Jasper. It positions the audience to understand the setting and what she is doing when we show her in our opening scene. Her costume also looks quite relaxed to imply she isn't going anywhere in particular just on a casual walk with her dog.




Rosemary our antagonist (Portaged by Chloe Bennett)
For filming we decided to dress Chloe in all black, including shoes, jacket, top, jeans, mask and makeup. This connoted horror and scare which positions the audience to see her as the 'Bad guy' and suspicious character.  Her outfit is effective in introducing the thriller genre/theme in our opening sequence. She comes across as mysterious, confusing and threatening throughout. It immediately comes across as frightening and doubtful. I believe Chloe dressed perfectly in representing the protagonist as the dark colours look eerie and spine-chilling.






Ellie, Tara's good friend (Portrayed by Mae Fisher)
For filming we decided to dress Mae casually, however in black to also make the audience feel she could be involved with the disappearance of Tara. Mae wore a watch throughout filming to show that she was checking the time a lot which is important in our opening scene. Mae wore a Khaki puffer jacket which connoted cold, gloomy weather. Mae dressed quite casual to show the audience she was only going to meet her friend and they weren't going anywhere fancy. Mae also showed her phone a lot in filming to let you see what is happening at all times.




Bella, Rosemarys partner (Portrayed By Katy Welch)
For filming we decided to dress Katy casually, to represent innocence and casual activities. She wore black jeans, colourful patterned top and a tartan red jacket. We wanted her to appear to the audience as innocent and that friend who is caring and kind. However at the end of the opening scene you  see her in a completely different light and understand her evil twisted character. Her personality isn't presented through what she is wearing as she doesn't look scary, when actually she was behind the murder all along.

Institution Research:

There are many different institutions such as Paramount, Colombian, Walt Disney, Warner Brothers, Lions Gate and 20th Century Fox.

1) Paramount:

The Paramount logo is a Long shot of a mountain with a ring of stars around it. Paramount is presented on top of the mountain in fancy writing. The are nice pinky purple colours which help the institution stand out more. The mountain connotes adventure and explore as they are a cliche for action and thriller film. The twenty-four stars represent the twenty-four contracted movie stars that paramount had at the time.

Films created by Paramount pictures include Lara Croft, Rugrats Go Wild, School Of Rock, Mean Girls, Titanic, Transformers, Shrek, Indiana Jones, Mission: Impossible, Forest Gump, Iron Man, War of worlds, World War Z, Star Trek, Psycho and many many more.

Paramount is a film studio, television company and motion picture distributer. Ranked as the "Big Six" studio in Hollywood. 2012 was its 100th year in show business. Founded in 1912, it is the fifth oldest surviving film company. One of the most successful film production companies in the world!

2)Colombian:

Columbia film productions is an American film production and a studio of 'Sony pictures motion picture group'. One of the largest film productions in the world. Also a member of the "Big Six". Originally founded in 1918 but released its first film in August 1922. At first it was a small production in Hollywood but became much more well known in the late 1920's. 5th largest film production.

Films including The Smurfs, Stuart Little, Spider Man, Ghostbusters, 21 Jump Street, 2012, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Anatomy, Fright Night, Revenge and Murder By Death.

The title presents a women holding a flag and torch which signifies The Statue of Liberty. This could be to show power and peace.

3)Walt Disney: 

Walt Disney is an American film production company and is owned by The Walt Disney Company.  Also classifies as one of Hollywoods "Big Six" film studios. Founded in 1923, by the man himself Walt Disney. Disney produces a series of short animatic stories which then became huge sensations all over the world.

Disney films are usually made for young children and families, however if you start of watching them as a young child you will always watch the new popular Disney movie.

The Disney movies created include The Little Mermaid, Aladdin,  Finding Nemo, Cars, Maleficent, Mulan, Pirates Of The Caribbean, Monsters Inc, Up, Lilo & Stitch, Alice In Wonderland and the most recent, and hugely popular Frozen.

4)Warner Brothers:

Warner Brothers is an American entertainment company that produces film, television and music. One of the many major film studios whose headquarters is in Burbank, California. Founders= Albert, Harry, Sam and Jack Warner 1903.  First creation in 1927.

Creating super successful films such as the Harry Potter series, Inception, Dark Night, The Hangover and Superman.  These films are popular all around the world and are made with a huge budget.

Warner Brothers is the biggest film industry making them the most successful in film business.

5)Lions Gate:

Lions Gate is a Canadian-American entertainment company. Formed on July 3rd 1997 and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California.

From November 2013 it's the most commercially  successful mini major film and television company in North America and seventh most profitable company.

Films including the hugely successful Hunger Games, Saw, Abduction, Kick-Ass, American Psycho and Charlie St. Cloud.

6)20th Century Fox:

20th Century Fox is an American film studio and is one of the six major American film studios, located in Los Angeles west of Beverly Hills.

Founded May 31st 1935 by Joseph M. Schenck and Darryl F. Zanuck.

Distributed some famous films such as first two Star Wars, Ice Age, Diary Of A Wimpy Kid, Maze Runner, Home Alone, Planet Of The Apes, Night At The Museum, Taken, Power Rangers, Die Hard and Avatar.

Member of the Motion Picture Association Of America and celebrated its 80th anniversary as a studio in 2015.

Our Film Soundtrack Research:

For our films soundtrack we are going to be using the links below-


Opening Scene With All Characters In Shot:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BY0U432m8W0 = Inspirational Piano Music-Possible (Copyright Free)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDGP4rf4vJ0 = Inspirational and uplifting music- Northern Express (copyright and royalty free)


Coffee Scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je9bnuIqVVc = Epic and Inspiring music- Parallel (copyright and royalty free)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NGZQqPpDMw&spfreload=10 = Epic and Inspiring Music- New Frontiers (copyright and royalty free)


Killing Assault Scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NGZQqPpDMw&spfreload=10 =Scary Horror Music- Haunted (copyright and royalty free)

For the opening scene we thought these soundtracks would be effective as they are quite calm but have a mysterious hint to them. It helps set the scene and help the audience understand whats happening and the genre/theme.

For the coffee scene we thought this soundtrack was successful as its quite settling for the environment where its set but also has the same mysterious effect to it.

For the killing/assault scene we really liked this soundtrack as it has a really effective eerie noise but the beat drops suddenly giving a scary jump to the atmosphere. I feel it will work really well when our character is assaulted as it helps create a murder like non-diegetic sound.

Behind the scenes: First day of filming

Monday 30th February 2015- First day of filming.

Today myself, Nadiye, Katy and Chloe went to the local coffee shop Costa to film a scene for our opening scene. Nadiye, Katy and Chloe took it in turns filming and deciding which camera angles would be effective and help show me in appropriate viewpoints and angles. On the first day of filming we filmed my scene which will be played near the beginning as its a key scene which will inform the audience of whats happening in the opening and whats to come. Hopefully this will  leave the viewers gripped to the edges of their seats!

Location:
We chose to use this location as a place where the characters Tara and Ellie were going to meet and sort out their friendship.                              
We thought it would be successful as its an effective ordinary place.
We used the Coffee shop as its a local area, which has ordinary people who aren't involved with the film in it. In a thriller there is usually a scene where there are many people in shot but not main characters. We thought the location would be good here as its a place where friends would meet up which makes it reliable and not make the audience feel confused and feel as if that wouldn't happen.

Mise En Scene:

Mae(The character) wore a khaki puffer jacket, black jeans, black top, black shoes and a watch. I wanted to look quite innocent and interesting but also conform to a thriller genre. I wore the watch as a prop to show the audience i have been waiting and watching the clock.  We also show my bag to position the viewers to see its a normal day and I had been out and about. There is a mysterious storyline in this scene so I didn't want to dress really vibrant and not succeed in our theme/genre.
I bought a drink to use as a prop to make the location seem more reliable. The use of it being a christmas cup represents winter and coldness which is usually the weather type in a thriller film with parts of horror included.

Timing:
We chose to film at 14:30 as we thought it would be a lot quieter around our local coffee shop. We were lucky in which it was quiet meaning there won't be much background noise in our recordings. Seeing as its December it gets dark much quicker now so we ensured we got it done earlier in the afternoon so the lighting is successful. However there was a dimming lighting which helps conform to the mysterious thriller theme/genre.

It took myself a while to be able to get into character, as it was quite embarrassing with people walking past. However once I was in character I felt much more comfortable in acting my scene.

Camera and shots:
We are using Katy's Nikon D3200 camera for filming and borrowing a tripod from the school. Katy's Camera has a really good focus to get effective shots. The tripod also work really well in maintaining a steady shot/focus. You can tell we are using a tripod as there isn't lots of annoying movement in the shots.  
Our close up shots included showing my face and emotions, and a close up shot of me calling Tara to show the audience what I was doing and where I was.
We used a range of shots, such as close up, mid shot, behind the shoulder shot and match on action. These will hopefully help us pick up marks in our film.

Sound:
During the mid shot where Ellie (myself) is on the phone we will use a soundtrack of Tara's voicemail to inform the audience of what is happening. There is diegetic sound of myself(Ellie) talking on the phone as we want the audience to know what I'm saying and what is happening in the scene. We will also use non-diegetic sound in the background of a scary mysterious tune when I'm walking into the coffee shop as noone knows what I'm about to do.

We will be using Adobe Premier Plus to put all our footage together and get a effective finished scene.